On the Nature of Things/The Discourses/The Meditations

by Lucretius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics

310 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the epic philosophical poem "De Rerum Natura" about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which is usually translated into English as On the Nature of Things.

Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certain fact is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius, to whom the poem was addressed and dedicated.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucretius: On the Nature of Things was actually my favorite book in this... book. Super enjoyable. Made me want to read other books describing early forays into materialism and science. This was back when physics was still basically a philosophy, so its crazy reading him trying to logic out atomism and fluid dynamics from first principles (And in a poetic manner!). Of course this means there was comparatively little of the traditional "How do I achieve the good life?" sort of philosophy here, but it sure was a cool unexpected departure from that ol humdrum. I love that Epicureanism has this element to it.

Then Epictetus is back to the humdrum. Its pretty good. He made Stoicism seem far less stringent than Epicureanism in its rejection of the supernatural/divine intervention. He also specifically addresses the arguments of other schools of philosophy, notably the Epicureans and the Cynics.

Marcus Aurelius was interesting reading, but pretty crap philosophy. Everything he says which is correct is said better by Epictetus, and there is a lot more of the incorrect. Some of it ends up reading like a weird mix of pseudo-christian self flagellation and bald justification of coercive political relationships (he was after all an Emperor).

[Kelly Koban · Rating 4 out of 5]

So interesting!!
How did ancient societies explain the wonders of nature?
Where does lightning come from?
How are diseases spread?
Why do children look like one parent and not the other?
Why can’t you see in the dark?
A very worthwhile read!

[Sandro Valery Gvaramia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the prose translation by R.E. Latham l. I have to say I was more impressed with this translation than I was with the poetic one from the Penguin classics series.

[Thor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helped me understand atomic structure and my place in the world. Materiality and ontology with some philosophy. What more can one want?
Ok, but still.

[Matthew Martens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this out strictly for Epictetus (no offense to the worthy Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius), so I am taking the liberty of declaring the volume "read" although I ignored two-thirds of it. That's allowed, isn't it?